TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU! | R. HEFFLEY

―NINE: FIRST DATE?

"I DON'T WANNA BE YOUR FRIEND, I WANNA KISS YOUR LIPS!"

Hestia bobbed her head along to the female singer's rough voice that was heard loudly through the mic. The venue was jam packed and she found herself surrounded by many similar, sweaty bodies and tried her best not to visibly cringe at it all.

Dressed in gray denim cutoff shorts and a black tank (an outfit only possible with her sneaking out when her parents were busy), Hestia seemed to attract unwanted attention from some pervy guys. She glared back at them at all with her typical look that warded off guys back at Evergreen High.

Not too long into the show, she decided to get some fresh air. Nimbly navigating her way through the clustered maze of sweaty, clammy-bodied teens yelling and making out, Hestia slipped through a door and found herself in the venue's back alley.

Taking a deep breath of the frigid air, the quiet of the night enveloped her and felt slightly assuring in comparison to the venue's chaos. The muffled sounds from the venue could still be heard through the slightly ajar door.

Ready to go back to the show, a voice suddenly interrupted her.

"Heeeeyyy, babygirlll!" said a slightly slurred voice. Hestia spun around instantly.

There stood a fairly short man who appeared to be a college student. The man had clearly been drinking and the teenage girl wrinkled her nose at the deep, alcoholic smell wafting from him. An empty beer can was held loosely in his hand.

"Heey girl, you're looking hotttt," he grumbled, looking her up and down. She furrowed her brow and starting backing up to the door.

"Fuck off," she snapped, ready to flee.

He chuckled and said, "What's the rushhh? We got the rest of the night to have funnnn." The man was inching dangerously close to her. Despite her exterior toughness and her mind yelling at her to move as far as possible from the drunken figure, Hestia found that her feet were stuck like glue in their spot, frozen in fear.

"Just give me a kiss babygirllllll," he mumbled, arms outstretched, headed right for her. A jolt of adrenaline rushed through her and she somehow found her arms shoving back at the man.

"I said, fuck off!" she yelled.

He wobbled backwards, almost falling back. Hestia's eyes widened and then suddenly found the adrenaline replaced with dread as she saw his fist clenched and heard the empty beer can crunch and suddenly dropped from his hand.

"You realllyyy shouldn't have done thattt..," he muttered and edged towards her.

She desperately looked back at the door and to her horror, found that the doorstop had somehow come out and that now she and this very intoxicated and very pissed off man were stuck in some dirty back alley.

"Hey! The lady said fuck off, man!" cried a random, yet familiar voice.

The drunk man turned and Hestia nearly gasped at the sight.

There stood Rodrick, the same guy she had turned down yesterday.

"Woah woahhhh, I wasn't gonna hurt the lady or anythinggg," said the man defensively, his arms put up in surrender.

"Yeah whatever, just move it along freak," said Rodrick with a new type of assertiveness she had never seen in him before. The man hurried out of there, muttering curses under his breath.

"Hey, you good?" inquired Rodrick and Hestia suddenly realized she was being asked a question. Rodrick noticed a flash of fear in the girl's eyes before they set back to their default haughtiness and defiance.

"Yeah," she said, brushing past him to reenter the venue, and then turned around and added, "Thank you," before moving along.

"Hey hey, wait up!" he cried, running to catch up to her.

"I'm here to see.." Rodrick began before looking down at the group's name on the ticket in his hand and continuing, "The Villanelles too."

Hestia squinted her eyes at the boy.

"You like the Villanelles?" she asked incredulously.

"Uh, yeah. Love 'em," he claimed. The girl gave him a wary, unbelieving look but thankfully let him tag along with her. They squeezed their way to the venue's front.

The rest of the night was great as Hestia yelled along to her favorite songs by the group, grinning. She found that being accompanied by a guy actually prevented the typical pervy stares, to her relief. Rodrick stared, surprised, at the usually-moody girl brightening up and actually seeming to have fun.

As the show ended, the two began to exit the venue.

"Well, goodni-," began Hestia, but was cut off.

"Wait, wait. Do you wanna actually grab some food from there? It'll be on me," asked Rodrick hurriedly, pointing to the diner across the street.

She frowned at him, but then thought about it. She still had an hour or two until her curfew. And he had saved her from the alley after all and if he was so needy to eat and hang out with her...
Hestia sighed and said, "Sure."

The boy's face lit up and she blushed beet red as he took her by the hand across the street and began, "This diner is probably one of the best in town. Me and my friends always come here after our shows...."

Two cheeseburgers, one plate of french fries and two strawberry milkshakes later, the two began to converse more.

"So.. you moved here this year, right?" he asked.

Hestia nodded. "From San Francisco."

He chuckled and said, "Damn. It must be really different from here, huh?"

She smiled wistfully and said, "Y-yeah, it really is. We lived in this really nice house and my dad was a doctor at UCSF, but then he got laid off and got a job here, so we moved.. And that was when my sister Athena got out of middle school and became such a bitch..." she trailed off, rolling her eyes.

Rodrick's muscles stiffened at the sound of the girl who his younger brother was pining after and the source of this whole devious plan. He ignored the slight, burdening bit of guilt in his chest that was growing and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I don't really get along with my younger brother either," he mumbled.

"So do you actually like the Villanelles?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

He gulped under her sudden stare and said, "Mhm, they'e really good," and then moved on from the subject. "Did you know I'm in a band?"

Hestia scoffed and said, "Yeah, loaded diaper or something? But spelled really stupidly?"

Rodrick laughed and said, "Yeah.. my friend Jimmy isn't that good of a speller.. I think he was in fifth grade twice.."

His eyes widened at the sudden sound of the usually cross girl in front of him laughing.

The rest of the night went by quickly. Hestia surprisingly found conversation with the boy easy to continue, as they seemed to have many similar interests. As they left, she prepared to take the bus home.

"Hey, what are you doing? I'll just give you a ride home. Going on public transport isn't safe at this time, especially when you're wearing that.." he said, his cheeks red, waving his hand vaguely at her revealing outfit.

Normally, she would argue but it was getting late and her limbs ached. She just nodded and found herself sitting in his car's passenger seat.

It was only after several minutes when she realized she didn't recognize the road that Rodrick was driving on and a familiar rush of fear and the memory of the scary incident with the drunken man only a few hours earlier returned. He was driving somewhere up a hill where she had never been before.

"Where are we going?!" she asked, the fear evident in her voice. Had she let her guard down and was Rodrick actually a serial killer?

He just laughed and said, "Just wait." Hestia began to eye the door's handle, but before she could do anything, the car came to a halt. Was this how she was going to die? But then Hestia took a look outside and stopped.

They were on a outlook and the suburb's lights and buildings looked beautiful from up here. They both climbed out of the car and sat on it's hood.

"Woah," she breathed.

Rodrick smiled. "Isn't it gorgeous up here?"

"Yeah, I bet you bring all the girls up here, right?" she said sarcastically. He grinned back at her. The night air was biting and she shivered.

Without a word, Hestia found herself covered with Rodrick's jacket. She mumbled a thanks to him. A few beats passed and there was no response.

Suddenly, she turned and her heart beat quickened as she was face to face with Rodrick staring right back at her, his eyes boring into her skull. Her face went red again and she cleared her throat.

"Hey, can I go home now? It's getting really late and I have a curfew," she asked.

"O-oh yeah, sorry," he mumbled.

The two drove back in silence, except for her telling Rodrick the directions home.

Before she stepped out of the car, she bit her lip and said, "You know this wasn't some kind of first date, right?" She expected the boy to be angered or flustered by this, but his reaction was surprising.

He smiled coyly at her and said, "Well, I said I'd get to you sometime, right?"

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WORD COUNT: 1521

the first line of this chapter is lyrics from girl in red's song "i wanna be your girlfriend", but i made up the group name "the villanelles" :)
also i know this sort of first date interaction between the two was really awkward, but they're starting to warm up to each other! i really want them to become this emo couple though who does dumb shit together.
also rodrick heffley was the og eboy and that is a fact 😤